Michael Todd, the bassist for the band Coheed and Cambria, was arrested for armed robbery after he allegedly held up a Walgreens by claiming he had a bomb ... and this all went down right before they played a show!

According to police in Attleboro, MA ... Todd showed a pharmacist a cell phone note that said he had a bomb and demanded Oxycontin. He made off with six bottles of pain pills and fled via taxi.

But police say he was spotted in the cab and police were able to track it via the dispatcher ... to the Comcast Center where Coheed and Cambria were set to open up for Soundgarden.

Police said Todd was arrested without incident after he was identified by the cab driver, the pharmacist and by store surveillance video.

Todd was charged with armed robbery and unlawful possession of prescription narcotics. He is being held on $10,000 bail and will be arraigned on Monday morning.

Todd was arrested at the concert hall before the show began, but the rest of his bandmates performed without him.

He's scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Attleboro's District Court; according to Coheed and Cambria's website, "no shows will be cancelled" despite their bassist's arrest.

"Michael Todd was arrested today on what we consider very serious charges and therefore he will not be finishing up the current tour," the statement read. "Wes Styles, longtime member of the Coheed family, will take on bass duties starting tomorrow for the remaining dates."

Perfect - they played without him and it looks like he may be gone for a while!

A terrible silence shook a pharmacist,
So giving the blame to me in all.
Said, 'I'm giving my best bluff, I've got a bomb"
Wishing that I had more text space.

Well now I'm'a getaway in a taxi cab.
You'd better watch out, I might strike.
And I'm hard on, tripping as fast as I can.
Oh, here we go to save the show.
Comcast venue is broken.
And I could choose to run fasterů
But I'm a junkie.
I see myself at the back of a squad car.
She looked, looked at the lineup and recognized me.

Said 'No, I thought the tiny little pills were advil,
I mistakenly took this oxycotin'

Well now I'm sitting in the joint
Band's still playing out, ignoring my plight
And I'm locked up, sitting as still as I can
And I'm tweaking just a bit

And I'm a junkie
I'm a junkie no
And I'm locked up, coming down as fast as I can
And there they go to play a show
My hide is getting broken
And I could choose to run fasterů
But I'm a junkie

Todd was arrested at the concert hall before the show began, but the rest of his bandmates performed without him.

He's scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Attleboro's District Court; according to Coheed and Cambria's website, "no shows will be cancelled" despite their bassist's arrest.

"Michael Todd was arrested today on what we consider very serious charges and therefore he will not be finishing up the current tour," the statement read. "Wes Styles, longtime member of the Coheed family, will take on bass duties starting tomorrow for the remaining dates."

Perfect - they played without him and it looks like he may be gone for a while!

If you were in the band with him, would you let him back in or fire his ass?

Good question. I've been in three bands where there was at least one junkie. In two of these cases their artistic contributions were significant enough that the bands would've had to break up or completely start over without them - which ended up happening anyway, in no small part because of their addiction-related failures.

Addiction is a powerful thing so I can sympathize up to a point. This guy (C&C bass-player) has been through rehab before and obviously fell off the wagon, but there are careers potentially riding on his contribution to the band, so probably everyone's been hoping he'd be able to pull it together. Tough choice, for sure.

On the face of it, I'd be wanting to kick him to the curb, but then again, I'm not in the band and I don't know the guy. On the other hand, I've been weighed down with guys like this before and I think I'd be much less willing to tolerate it again. It's not worth the anxiety it causes to the bystanders.

If you were in the band with him, would you let him back in or fire his ass?

If it's local/working band, of course you fire him and not look back.

But this band has several gold albums, is signed to a label, tours all over, etc. So there is much more money at stake, and possible contract issues we may not be aware of.

When a former band member of mine had issues, I would have loved to said, OK, go to rehab, and we'll work it out later. But given we had sold ZERO albums at that point, there was no budget for rehab. So breaking up was the only option. Where as someone like Motley Crue who sells millions can afford all the rehab they need. This band is in the middle, so it's hard to say what will happen.

But my point is that surely he could have just bought some of them given that he's a rich rockstar and everything? Plenty of rockstars are addicted to extremely expensive drugs like cocaine without resorting to armed robbery.

But my point is that surely he could have just bought some of them given that he's a rich rockstar and everything? Plenty of rockstars are addicted to extremely expensive drugs like cocaine without resorting to armed robbery.

But my point is that surely he could have just bought some of them given that he's a rich rockstar and everything? Plenty of rockstars are addicted to extremely expensive drugs like cocaine without resorting to armed robbery.

I take it you've not encountered too many addicts, Ed?

You'll learn pretty bloody quickly that there is little rhyme or reason....and even less logic (at least sane and sober logic) that goes into any of the decisions they make when it comes time to cop.

When they need a fix, they need a fix....come hell or high water....end of story. That's about as logical as it gets.

You'll learn pretty bloody quickly that there is little rhyme or reason....and even less logic (at least sane and sober logic) that goes into any of the decisions they make when it comes time to cop.

When they need a fix, they need a fix....come hell or high water....end of story. That's about as logical as it gets.

To be honest i think you sound extremely patronising, all 3 of you. As if you think i don't know what drug addicts do or something. All i'm saying is that even if he is an addict he's not justified in doing what he did.

To be honest i think you sound extremely patronising, all 3 of you. As if you think i don't know what drug addicts do or something. All i'm saying is that even if he is an addict he's not justified in doing what he did.

Whatever.

If you've already got the answer, I'll trust you can now stop asking the question then.

Last edited by Pocket-full-of-gold; 07-18-2011 at 02:38 AM.
Reason: Further discussion omitted. Just not worth my time.

An addiction to prescription painkillers is just like any other addiction. Prescription drugs are more esoteric and harder to find on the street (with some exceptions) hence the need for the armed robbery.

One of my best friends when I was a teenager turned into a major drug addict. I have sympathy for those that end up in that position and wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy. With that said, if you commit a crime you take the responsibility. Addiction is not an excuse.

To be honest i think you sound extremely patronising, all 3 of you. As if you think i don't know what drug addicts do or something. All i'm saying is that even if he is an addict he's not justified in doing what he did.

I'll take a step back and say that I do agree with you. Being an addict DOES NOT justify doing what he did. It just explains why he did it.

Todd was arrested at the concert hall before the show began, but the rest of his bandmates performed without him.

He's scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Attleboro's District Court; according to Coheed and Cambria's website, "no shows will be cancelled" despite their bassist's arrest.

"Michael Todd was arrested today on what we consider very serious charges and therefore he will not be finishing up the current tour," the statement read. "Wes Styles, longtime member of the Coheed family, will take on bass duties starting tomorrow for the remaining dates."

Perfect - they played without him and it looks like he may be gone for a while!

A band is always ready for a bassist dropping out in my experience! They have a tendency to be unreliable :P

Such lame, stupid and dumb acts make you wonder if Michael Todd or any other musicians are either genius or spoon fed kids. Why do these musicians feel they can do anything without any consequences? Such irresponsible musicians make a bad rapport of all the people involved in this industry.

Such lame, stupid and dumb acts make you wonder if Michael Todd or any other musicians are either genius or spoon fed kids. Why do these musicians feel they can do anything without any consequences? Such irresponsible musicians make a bad rapport of all the people involved in this industry.

I would say this behavior and addicts exist in all professions, musicians are just in the public spotlight by default. The industry is definitely more lenient on drug use, and they just get farther along in mistakes than most others are allowed to before they hit bottom. Many unknown junkies kill for this and other stuff, it could have been worse. I just think it's sad, that's all.

I think this quote ought to explain this..."A drug is not bad. A drug is a chemical compound. The problem comes in when people who take drugs treat them like a license to behave like an asshole." - Frank Zappa